show

A Life Behind Bars

LAstageNY · Ages 18+ · 1hr

flashing lights one person show

About the Show

Dan Ruth’s award winning, critically acclaimed “A Life Behind Bars” returns to The Whitefire Solofest. An original roller coaster solo comedy bar crawl, “A Life Behind Bars” focuses on the soul-sucking restaurant and service industries.

Through gritty storytelling, Ruth shares dark comic monologues, interwoven with characters he’s encountered while working and drinking in the seedy bars and dives of pre-Giuliani NYC. “A Life Behind Bars” has been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Idyllwild, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin Dells and Richmond, Va. It is directed by multi award-winning performer-producer-director, Tanya Moberly.

“Dan Ruth as the sole actor on a darkened stage is mesmerizing. “A Life Behind Bars” is timely and sharp and it paints a delicious story of a life of unrealized dreams. This is not simply a journey of redemption, it is a renewal of the spirit." – NoHoArtsDistrict.com

“As both a gifted writer and an actor of impressive dramatic and comedic strength, he has created what amounts to ’The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in New York Bars.” His quicksilver changes of character, mood, and setting warrant comparison to the great Lily Tomlin and that is praise I do not give lightly. Smartly directed by Tanya Moberly." – Bistro Awards NYC

“An actor of immense talent…Ruth transforms himself into 18 bleary bar denizens, one of whom is Ruth himself, bar towel on shoulder and standing at the center of this whirling, boozy world. Profane, captivating and masterful.” – Richmond Times Dispatch

“Dan Ruth’s mini-masterpiece about toiling and drinking in the many eccentric bars of pre-gentrification New York, celebrates the unconventional narratives and methods one can use to find resilience, redemption and hope.” – Pittsburgh in the Round

“Not only is Dan’s show hilarious and astute in its witnessing of the evolution of NYC, it is a master class in the art of the creation and execution of multiple characterization solo plays. Go!” – David Drake (Obie Award-winning Actor & Writer “The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me”)

***Strong language, sexual situations, drug and alcohol use, rock & roll and redemption.

***ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS PERFORMANCE WILL GO TO THE LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT

Learn More at danruthofficial.com

Production Team

a life behind bars